Transferring technical listening training curriculum at the Department of Acoustic Design, Kyushu University, to a corporation in the acoustics industry

Technical listening training (TLT) is a systematic training program designed to improve auditory sensitivity. TLT consists of discrimination and identification tasks for a wide variety of acoustic features, e.g., frequency, sound pressure level, and spectrum pattern. To improve the auditory sensitivity of employees in a corporation in the acoustics industry, the TLT curriculum at the Department of Acoustic Design, Kyushu University (KU), was transferred to the corporation as part of a corporate education program. An initial 5-day trial course was carried out by the KU staff to demonstrate the process of KU-style TLT and its effectiveness to the corporate staff. After the creation of a TLT control system and training room, a second trial 11-day course was jointly carried out by KU and the corporate staff as a simulation of the TLT course in the corporation. Participants in the trials were engineers in the corporation. Through the TLT trials, they improved their auditory sensitivity and their understanding of the relationship between acoustic properties and auditory attributes. They recognized the importance of the systematic listening experiences provided by TLT. Through these two trials, the corporate staff gained understanding of the TLT curriculum. Therefore, the corporation has begun running the TLT curriculum smoothly and successfully.